Yeah I just seen that. GPS is literally the backbone of phones. Wild. Software is the only way to spoof and or disable the feature. Custom ROMs are the only method essentially to gain the control you need. G-OS, lineage, etc etc which means the device also runs leaner and battery lasts days. It’d really the best solution far as I can tell.

Yeah that’s the thing. Hotspots are not any different require the same sim cards except if you choose satellite Starlink. That’s it. So the reasoning behind going the route i have is to completely cut out the mobile aspect and every part within except the 5g sim card since modern infrastructure doesn’t allow it basically.

All comms, apps, services, everything moved to a Linux x86 device and simply cable tether for internet. It’s still identity tied due to SIM (same with hotspots due to sim so a cell is lighter and better equipped to run lean even flashing custom ROMs add to control factor) but again it’s realistically as close and hassle free as one can get for daily use as a total phone replacement for a normal person. The entire phone is disabled aside from data and that’s behind VPN.

Anyone have suggestions on better paths or methods?

Close! It’s actually Costco for the cheap hotdogs… 😂

Desktop mode finally? Anything meaningful?

Check comment above. This is a terrible idea. You’ll go from 2 stars to 5.

Planes are safer. So is the ground.

Helicopters can’t control decent in failure situations. Helos are a safety hazard period. I’m with the never pass up an opportunity to decline a helo ride crew above.

Federal offense and highly illegal. They take this extremely serious. Whatever target you were before, expect and multiple time increase in tracking doing this. They will make an example of you.

Source. Local police chases and FAA raids/reporting. Do not do this. You’d be better off finding another method.

What about walkie talkies? Short wave radios? Older tech comms devices?

Sounds pretty good actually. I repair electronics, I wonder about just removing the GPS chip from the phone?

Either way with internet your going to be tracked the point is to minimize as much ss possible. Triangulation will always be an issue.

I’m not some giant target. Just a daily privacy conscious user like anyone, who wants to support FLOSS projects. I think in my use case I found the least hassle solution. I have no real use for insane amounts of solutions like a journalist or whistler. Just a normal person doing the best they can.

I have decided this approach is such a pain and hassle that I have had to change forms. Mostly due to modern societies infrastructure making it truly impossible.

I moved all phone related things, programs, apps, anything but dumb flip phone calling and texting to a x86 based tablet. (Even a wwan or 5g sim capable device doesn’t have a cellular modem so the easiest route is this)

Hotpot or cable tethering from sim card 5g/4Glte/volte from a smart phone, with your carrier sim of choice, best to pick a device matching their cellular band support in your part of the world. Routing calls /texts to the desktop Linux device of your choice laptop/tablet, 2in1, device of your choosing basically. Using the phone for nothing except internet period…, perhaps a backup device if ever needed worst case if your main goes down or breaks.

Secure and private as one could get, and totally power userable due to linux desktop capabilities and granular controls of literally everything, while still having the best reliable internet coverage, with traditional calling and texting for 2fa and other big corpo stuff. Yes the sim is tied to your real identity, but the actual day to day is much more private and secure than mobile, seperate device, vpn, LUKS drive, veracrypt, all desktop x86 (distro of your choice) Linux abilities. Close as one could get without living under a rock daily. Backups full and snapshots offsite sent to NAS or true cloned drives.

What do you think?

Then you harden the hardware further (so many ways to list again device dependant), and software as well (depends on your OS and needs/wants). (Qubes is too beefy to run all day as a phone replacement regardless of hardware. Batteries are the weak link) That being said pick any distro you feel good about and go.

This form is the most stable method, while being realistic to the goal. I have my own personal preferences for which devices, distros, settings, etc. That I can use daily.

This is the way.

Mattress goes on the floor, dead simple really.

Bed frames are heavy, require assembly, annoying to clean around/under. Cost more money.

Its the 7th… Me tok

Jack Daniels 200 year bicentenial bottle. Its honestly a finger above the rest. The smell is slightly honey maple. But the taste is smooth with just the right amount if bite at the very very end. 1500 dollar bottle retail. 800 to 1200 online.

Decided to go the let app run in the background on graphene. With 3 apps in the background running all the time. Battery last 12 hours, with heavy use less. I’m unaware of how to get or self host push notifications outside of Google. It’s not death to your battery but it defintely shaves off 20 percent and that’s a rough number.

I’ve been using a pixel for 2 years with 600 plus cycles and my battery health is still 100 percent excellent, I did a hardware health check today.

Fuck off Fed Boi.

Sometimes you need a little love with your tech posts. It is a single non tech post. Take the love and keep it moving :)

How is Ollama compared to GPT models? I used the paid tier for work and I’m curious how this stacks up.

47 gillete aristocrat. There’s alot of old razors in this post.

I’ve got a gillete aristocrat from 1947 in the box with the original blades. It’s gold. Such a nice shave.